Patient examination tables such as those for echocardiography and in particular those tables shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,919,131 and 5,184,363, and which patents are incorporated herein by reference, are provided with openings which allow the examiner to be positioned inboard of the edge of the table and next to a patient. This allows the examiner to reach over the patient's chest for application of an ultrasound examination probe to the patients chest wall next to the heart. As is shown in FIG. 9 the examiner can be seated on the deck 14 of the table 10 next to the patient 100. The examiner must reach across the patient to apply the probe 96.
This manner of conducting cardiac ultrasound or echocardiography examinations has a number of benefits over the prior art as it avoids the patient being situated on the edge of an examination table, it avoids the patient feeling as though they may fall off the edge of the examination table, it avoids the patient needing to support themselves on some other object during examination, and it provides full access to the patient's chest wall during examination. It should be appreciated that in prior art examination tables, that is examination tables lacking the inventive access sites as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,184,363 to Falbo, a sonographer cannot avoid the discomfort of being forced to stand, sit or straddle in unnatural or uncomfortable positions on or adjacent to the examination table. By use of the access sites examiners can avoid the need to reach across the entirety of a patient's body and the entirety of the examination bed to position the probe or diagnosis when dealing with obese patients.
While the examination tables having dual, adjacent, opposed access sites such as examination tables shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,184,363 and 5,919,131 have eliminated many of the problems associated with prior ar tables, some discomfort, nevertheless, is still present for both examiner and patient when these examination tables are used in a particular fashion. For example, when a patient and examiner are positioned in the manner shown in FIG. 9, the positioning of the examiner and the patient can be uncomfortable depending on the sizes of the examiner and/or the patient. For example, if patient 100 is a large chested or stout person, it may be difficult for examiner 90 to reach around patient 100 to place probe 96 in proper contact against the patient's chest wall. In these situations, it is not uncommon for an examiner to lean over and across patient 100 thereby leaning on patient 100 and causing undesired contact between examiner 90 and patient 100 and/or causing examiner 90 to support some of his or her weight on patient 100. It further should be appreciated that during the procedure of echocardiography, it is not uncommon that the patient 100 will have just finished a portion of the examination procedure in which they raise their heart rate by pedaling a bicycle or walking on a treadmill. Having just exercised, the patient 100 can find the examiner's contact particularly uncomfortable. Therefore, it would be a benefit if a means were provided to maintain separation between examiner 90 and patient 100 when an echocardiography procedure as shown in FIG. 9 is being conducted.
Additionally, it may be the case that an examiner 90 is a large or stout person. In this instance, it is not infrequent that the width of examination table 10 is insufficient to provide proper support to examiner 90 when examiner 90 is seated within access site 42. In such a situation, examiner 90 will be seated only partially on examination table 10 as is shown in FIG. 3. Alternatively, the examiner will feel the need to angle their body as shown in FIG. 3 to position more of her body on table 10. Such angled seating of examiner 90 on table 10 can present further difficulties to proper placement of probe 96 against the chest wall of patient 100. Also, if examiner 90 cannot fit fully within deck 14 of table 10, strain will be put on examiner 90's back, shoulder and/or arm which can lead to musculoskeletal injury or repetitive stress injuries of the back and hips of the sonographer 90.
It should be appreciated that it is not a practical solution to simply widen deck 14 of examination table 10. Frequently, examination tables must be moved around within a hospital or clinic. If deck 14 of table 10 were widened, it would not be possible to roll examination table 10 through many of the standard door openings presented in a hospital or clinic. Therefore, widening examination table 10 to better support examiner 90 is not a useful option. It will further be appreciated that access site 42 cannot be enlarged as expanding the size of access site 42 would reduce the amount of deck 14 available for the patient to lie upon. Moving the examiner nearer the patient by enlarging access site 42 would further exacerbate the problem of pushing the examiner 90 against patient 100 during examinations. It will also be appreciated that access sites 42 and 40 cannot be repositioned as this would move the examiner further away from the vicinity of the chest wall of patient 100 to which probe 96 must be applied. Therefore, it would be of great benefit to sonographers and the activity of echocardiography in general if a means were developed which would allow an examiner 90 to be fully seated upon deck 14 of examination table 10 to thereby avoid repetitive stress injury and/or musculoskeletal injuries which can result from the repetitive act of only being partially supported upon deck 14 of examination table 10 while conducting an examination.
It would be a further benefit if a means were provided to support the back of an examiner 90 while engaged in examinations to reduce the incidence of repetitive strain injuries due to the absence of any back support on an examination table 10 when an examiner is seated within access site 42 (FIG. 3).
It would be a further benefit if a means were provided to support the weight of an examiner 90 and/or to maintain the separation between an examiner 90 and a patient 100 (FIG. 9) when an examiner must reach across a large chested or stout patient to apply a probe 96 to the chest wall of the patient.
Such an invention would provide an examiner 90 with a proper upright seating position for conduct of echocardiography examinations, it would allow the examiner to be comfortable during such examinations avoiding bending and/or twisting to achieve the proper position. It would provide back support to an examiner and/or permit an examiner to support his or her weight on a portion of examination table 10 when it is necessary for an examiner to lean across a large chested or stout patient. Such an invention would benefit an echocardiography patient by maintaining separation between the examiner and the recently exercised patient and would prevent an examiner 90 from supporting his or her weight upon a patient during an examination procedure.
These benefits and more can be obtained through use of the present invention and without the need to widen examination table 10 or to extend access sites further into the center of deck 14 of table 10. In the method provided, a right handed sonographer scanning with the probe in their right hand and facing toward end 26, is able to sit on deck 14 of table 10 and to reach over a patient 100 (FIG. 9) while being fully supported by examination table 10 and without placing any of the examiner's weight upon the patient during examination.